Wide-range yielding washer



(No Model.) l 2 Sheets-Sheet l.

H. A. HARVEY.

WIDE RANGE YIELDING WASHER.

Patented July 3, 1888.

H. A. HARVEY.

WIDE RANGE YIELDING WASHER. 7 No. 385,621. Patented July 3,1888.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HAYiVARD A. HARVEY, OF ORANGE, NE\V JERSEY.

WIDE-RANGE YIELDING WASHER.

EPECIPICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 385,621, dated July 3, 1888.

Application filed February 28, 1888. Serial No. 265,532. (No modeLl T aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I. HAYWARD A- HARVEY, of Orange, New Jersey. have invented certain lmprovementsin \VideRangeYiclding W'ashers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention consists of a soft-iron washer having the form of a single convolution of a spiral of coarse pitch. It is especially in tended for employment in connection with railway track bolts.

The application of anut to a track-bolt now requires two opcrators one to turn the nut home by means of a suitable wrench, and the other to press the head of the bolt against the plate through which the bolt is inserted, and

' to thereby hold the oval neck of the bolt in its seat, so that the bolt may not turn while the nut is being screwed home. By means of the present invention the track-bolt and the nut can be applied and the nut screwed home by a single operator. Usually the first one or two convolutions of the bolt-thread fit loosely in the nut,so that the nut can be started on the bolt by hand. The yielding spiral washer, having been slipped on the bolt, bears in one direction against the structure through which the bolt is inserted and in the other direction against the inner face of the nut. During the operation of screwing the nut home all parts of the washer are gradually compressed into the same plane. The resistance of the washer to such compression serves to keep the oval neck of the bolt in its seat and to hold the head of the' bolt against the object through which the bolt extends.

Spring-washers having the form of a single convolution of a spiral are well known and in extensive use. Springwashers, however, have necessarily a small range of yielding movement so small that by the time they come into play the nut is so near home that there is no longer any chance for the dislodgment of the oval neck ofthe bolt from its seat, because the distance between the nut and the structure through which the bolt extends is less than the length of the oval part of the neck of the bolt. In the present case, on the contrary, the washer is so distended that it reaches from the structure through which the bolt extends to a nut which has onlymade one ortwo turns on the bolt. The range of yielding movement of the washer is intended to be about equal to the thickness of the nut in the direction of its axis. Owing to this wide range of yielding movement the washer is especially useful in connection with so-called grip bolts, in which the threads of the nut and bolt are relatively so differentiated, either in respective pitches or forms,that they are made to interfere during the operation of screwing home the nut. Such interference requires the application of strong force to turn the nut, and the maintenance of the oval neck of the bolt in its seat is therefore especially required, in order to prevent the bolt itself from turning.

The accompanying drawings, illustrating the application of the invention to a railway track-bolt, are as follows:

Figure 1 is a perspective view ofthe washer. Fig. 2 is atransversc vertical section of a railway-joint, affording a view in elevation of a track-bolt and of a nut which has been started upon the end of the bolt, and showinga widerange spiral washer embracing the bolt and interposed between the nut and the adjacent fish-plate. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section taken through the line m 00 on Fig. 2, showing the nut screwed farther on the bolt, and illustrating the resulting compression of the washer in the direction of its axis. Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3, but showing the nut screwed home and all parts of the washer compressed into the same plane.

There is represented in the drawings a familiar form of railway-joint, composed of two fislrplates, A and B, arranged, respectively, on opposite sides of the rail O and'perforated to admit the trackbolt D. The fishplate A is provided with an oval perforation to receive the oval neck (Z of the traclcbolt.

The wide-range spiral washer E embraces the threaded part (1 of the bolt, and when first applied is intended to bear in one direction against the surface of the fish-plate B and in the other direction against the sur:l'ace of a nut, F, which has been started upon the end of the track-bolt, as shown in Fig. 2. As the opcration of screwing home the nut progresses. the spiral washer E gradually yields in the direction of its axis, the resultant yielding of the washer due to the turning of the nutabout half -way on the bolt being represented in the inside diameter of the spiral as and for Fig. 3. When the nut is screwed home, all the purpose set forth. parts of the washer E are compressed into the 2. An oval-necked bolt and the structure same plane, as illustrated in Fig. 4. through which the said bolt is inserted, in It will of course be understood that the I combinationwithanutandasoft-metal washer spiral washer E may be made of any desired having the form of a single convolution of a shape in cross section its only essential rel spiral of coarse pitch, and adapted to embrace quirements being that it shall have a suitably the bolt and to bear in one direction against wide range of yielding movement and shall lthe structure through which the bolt is inbe made of asuitably soft metal, so that it will serted and in the other direction against the not break while being compressed from aspiral nut, as and for the purpose set forth. form into a circular form, in which all portions of it are brought into the same plane. I l

HAYWARD A. HARVEY. \Vhat is claimed as the invention is 1. A soft-metal unresilient washer having Witnesses: the form of a single convolution of a spiral, A. M. JONES, the pitch of which is approximately equal to R. W. ARMSTRONG. 

